Whicker: Seahawks' Wilson in a familiar state

Russell Wilson grew up in Virginia, played most of his college football in North Carolina, and topped it off with a post-grad year at Wisconsin.

There are 111 million viewers who know he’s got some Montana in him, too.

The second-year Seattle quarterback became the youngest to win a Super Bowl, 43-8 over Denver, since Ben Roethlisberger eight years ago. “Win” is the word that applies.

Wilson has been backhanded with the compliment of “game manager” so often that you expect him to be working for Nintendo customer service. Instead, he is a versatile, athletic leader who, when pressed, can zing a football into a window no bigger than your rear-view.

He cashed seven third downs out of 12, never turned over the football, spread his 18 completions among nine receivers, and became the first QB in the Class of 2012 to grab the Lombardi Trophy.

“They say you want to play your best football at the end of the season and we played our best football tonight,” Wilson said Sunday. “I told Coach (Pete Carroll) last year, when we lost to Atlanta (in the NFC semifinals), that we were going to go all the way this year.”

Three of Seattle’s five touchdowns were produced by a seventh-round pick (Malcolm Smith) and two undrafted free agents (Doug Baldwin, Jermaine Kearse).

The rest of the league fanned on Wilson, too. He was the 75th player picked in 2012, and the sixth quarterback.

Andrew Luck and Robert Griffin III led off the draft. Ryan Tannehill and Brandon Weeden went in the first round. Tannehill is Miami’s two-year starter, and Weeden, in Cleveland, stands 8 inches taller than Wilson but has repeatedly proved he cannot play.

Brock Osweiler went to Denver in the second round. Thirteen picks below Wilson, Philadelphia drafted Nick Foles, the league leader in QB rating this year.

Seattle general manager John Schneider felt Wilson’s huge hands and quick feet were more important than being 5 feet, 107/8 inches tall. So is his adaptability. He can run the zone-read, he can drop back, he can run intentionally, and he can scramble and fire while moving. He has only two 300-yard passing games but his won-loss record is now 28-9, counting playoffs.

“I’ve never seen anybody prepare like him,” Percy Harvin said. “Even today we were way up in the game, and he was in our faces, telling us not to let up.”

There was another self-assured quarterback in 1979 who was picked No. 82, in the third round, behind Jack Thompson, Phil Simms and Steve Fuller.

Too bad Joe Montana didn’t have an NFL arm, said the evaluators who forgot to check the twinkle in his eye and the steady heart rate.

Wilson might not become Montana or even Luck, but he got his starting job quicker than Joe Cool did, beating out high-buck free agent Matt Flynn in exhibitions.

In his first encounter with a first-string defense, Wilson led Seattle to six scores in six possessions against Kansas City.

Jon Gruden, the ESPN analyst and former Super Bowl-winning coach, was an early booster of Wilson and said that every team in the league loved everything about him, except for his limited verticality.

The Seahawks were mindful of his height, more intrigued by his depth.

He played football and baseball at North Carolina State and still graduated in 31/2 years. His grandfather was the president of Norfolk State U. His dad was a lawyer in Richmond and made the final cut with the San Diego Chargers in 1980.

Little sister Anna – well, 5-foot-8 – is a renowned high school basketball player in Richmond.

“I hope Russell runs for president someday,” Gruden said in 2012. “He is a supreme kid. He’s exactly the kind of quarterback I’d want.”

Best of all, Wilson is a salary-cap saver. He made $681,000 this year and will make only $951,000 two years from now. That helps Schneider beef up the general roster and is a reward for superior second-day drafting.

For Seattle, vindication bubbled up like Mt. St. Helens.

Carroll, fired by the Jets and Patriots, now has bookend championships. His 2004 USC Trojans brought the same enraged efficiency to their 55-19 BCS title victory over Oklahoma.

The Seahawks also showed that defense can really, truly beat hermetically sealed quarterbacks and untouchable receivers. Coverage is not impossible. Big hits still lead to shortened arms.

And a salary cap and weighted schedule do not equal parity, at least not automatically.

Seattle was 13-3 in the regular season; its losses came by two, six and seven points.

“We didn’t see why this game had to be close,” said linebacker Bobby Wagner, knowing whom to call upon if the next one is.